A Troubling Love
by janel.larue
Summary: Witness the struggled between two people who hold strong, mutual feelings for each other. Will they manage to break through the awkward barrier or continue to struggle with their love? - - - - - - - - - - * Note: I'm making it rated M just in case for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

It had been months since their last meeting. Tsukimi still lived at Amamizukan with all of her friend's and there was still yet the next time that cross-dresser showed his face. The sisterhood hadn't figured out yet that Kurakao was a fake name and that the reason behind the fake breasts was because it was actually a guy. A sigh escaped across her lips at the thought. All this time, she had been waiting and waiting and waiting for Kuranosuke to return, but why would she be waiting in the first place? She felt heat flood her cheeks and started shaking her head rapidly. _No no no!_ There was no chance in hell she would get butterflies over some gender-confused male!

Tsukimi hadn't taken any advice from him about keeping her appearance clean. Her eyebrows were a mess, she still hadn't taken into consideration she should get contacts, and never bothered with makeup. The sweat pants had remained her daily attire as well. As Tsukimi went out to the bathroom and started downstairs, hearing a commotion. At first, she thought it was Mayaya and Bamba conversing with each other, but then she heard another voice. She froze at the bottom of the stairs, looking over and spotting red hair and an outrageous attire. Fish-net stockings with a mini-skirt and a tubetop with a floral pattern on it. Her eyebrows mushed together at the sight, but her heart had started to race in the process. "Ah, Tsukimi! Kurakao is back! She has great news," Chieko said as she passed by with a tray of tea in hand.

With her name being sounded, Kuranosuke's purple orbs shot up and instantly found the Tsukimi he worked so hard on. Horror suddenly flashed across his face and he ran across the room in his spike heels, grasping Tsukimi's face in between his hands. "What happened to all of that work!"

Tsukimi grimaced, pulling herself back and averting her gaze. "You're the one that was gone for so long. The last thing you said was to be prepared. "

Kuranosuke sighed in aggravation, turning his back to her. "Well, I have great news, as Chieko said. I managed to get a department for our line of clothing!" he cooed, wiggling in his spot quite girlishly.

Everyone seemed to be excited, and Tsukimi was too for a moment… Realizing she would be moving out, she was suddenly mortified. "So where is it located?"

"Ah… Marunochi," Kuranosuke said, but he didn't sound as displeased as the look upon everyone's faces.

Everyone turned to look at Tsukimi, ghoulishly walking toward her. "Tsukimi~" Mayaya wailed in the process of getting to her.

Tsukimi was glomped in a hug that startled her. "Marunochi? That's so… far," Chieko said, sounding hesitant. "We can't all move there."

Kuranosuke held up a finger. "That's just it. I only need Tsukimi."

Chieko didn't look pleased. "It's about a three hour drive," Kuranosuke said. "And it's still in the Tokyo area. You all can come see our progress on occasions. We just need to do this soon to get the department organized and painted. It's a real run-down with its current colors."

Everyone sighed gloomily, but no one seemed to be arguing. They all saw Tsukimi's inspiration in making Jellyfish dresses and instead of moping around, she could finally do something. Kuranosuke started upstairs, more than likely heading to Tsukimi's bedroom. Tsukimi left the ghouls to their gloom and hurried behind him, finding he instantly started taking notebooks and sketchbooks that had her sketches in them and piling them into the floor. "Tsukimi. Start packing."

Tsukimi blinked as she stared, quietly. Kuranosuke had apparently brought loads of boxes, determined to finish this in a day's worth. Without a word, she started pulling her room apart and taking what she wanted and putting them into boxes. Within an hour and a half, her room was empty and torn apart with boxes scattered everywhere. Kuranosuke had torn off his wig out of frustration in the process and now sat in the floor, propped up against the wall. Tsukimi avoided looking at him for too long, having met his pretty purple eyes too many times to keep herself straight in the head.

"Tsukimi," he said, sounding gruff. His girlish voice he put on now gone. "I told you to get out of the habit of dressing and looking like that."

Tsukimi shrugged.

"If you're going to do this with me, you need to abide by my rules."

Kuranosuke had stood and started carrying boxes downstairs. The Koibuchi driver had been waiting outside, packing the boxes into the trunk. Any boxes left were packed in the backseat with room left for one person and another in the front seat. Kuranosuke briefly returned to tug Tsukimi with him. Tsukimi had managed to say her goodbyes and it was like that: she was gone.

They returned to the Koibuchi mansion. Shū was gone, off on vacation still, so she heard. Her heart tugged slightly at the thought of him, but over the past few months alone, she had developed an interest in… Her thoughts ceased as she shook her head. _No no no!_ She chanted in her mind, carrying a couple boxes inside where she was told to leave them at the door. The last thing she remembered was Clara. She hurried back out and looked to the driver who was carefully taking the tank inside. "Kuranosuke! What about Clara? She can't handle that long of a drive," she cried, glancing back in his direction.

"I had it taken care of. She'll be flown there and get there by the time we do as an urgent delivery and marked as live and fragile."

Tsukimi was indifferent, but she left it at that. Kuranosuke instantly snatched her away and pushed a large box in her direction. "I took the liberty of getting you a new wardrobe."

Tsukimi's eyes narrowed at the box and she looked inside. Since Kuranosuke was such a girl, there were skirts and dresses and everything girly of the like. She grimaced, shaking at her head. Kuranosuke rummaged through and pulled out a skirt not too short and a shirt which had an intriguing pattern on it. "I demand you change."

Kuranosuke shoved her into a nearby bathroom with the clothes and it was here that she was forced to change. There were a couple times she attempted to slip out when she thought he had disappeared, but his face just inches from hers when she opened the door nearly gave her a heartattack and she shut herself back into the bathroom. Eventually, Tsukimi gave in and she came out in the skirt and the shirt, grumbling under her breath because she was so unused to clothing fitting to her figure. "There!" Kuranosuke chimed.

Kuranosuke bent over and reached for the ties that kept her braided hair tied, pulling them and letting her hair fall loose. Tsukimi's face immediately reddened and with her staring up at him innocently the way she was, he started to feel warm in the face, too. Clearing his throat, he straightened and turned himself around. "We leave tomorrow morning. My old man is away, so don't worry about interruptions. How about we go look at the fabric we want to stock up on?"

Tsukimi was willing to follow after this, coming to his room and glancing over the mannequins with a tons of dresses to be worked on. Her brown eyes glimmered. They were ready to be shipped with them when they left. Kuranosuke took out a large box of fabrics. Frilly fabrics, feather fabrics… There was a sudden chuckle. "Well, I guess we can take all of them," he said, giving a nod.

In the process of setting it out to be taken, he had pulled himself from the clothes he wore. Thankfully, Tsukimi didn't have to see this. He had disappeared and suddenly reappeared in a pair of jeans and a turtle-neck long-sleeved shirt, all traces of makeup gone. Her heart fluttered and she hated herself for it. When Kuranosuke spotted her looking in his direction, he advanced on her and rose an eyebrow, his face inches from hers. Breaking from her daydream, she jumped out of her skin. Kuranosuke's face was too close to her liking. He reached up to touch her face, a small caress, then brushed some hair from her eyes. He lingered there, Tsukimi instinctively shutting her eyes in the process. This left Kuranosuke struggling with himself. He wanted to capture her lips and taste them. He inched closer but immediately backed himself away, sighing to himself and leaving the room, leaving Tsukimi to slump against the wall and slide down it, resting soundly against her backside as her heart crashed against her chest. She thought it was going to pop out of her chest. "Oh, man…" she uttered quietly, her eyebrows pulling together.

This was definitely not her mind toying with her.

* * *

^ **All characters belong to Akiko Higashimura. **

^ **All information along the lines of Tokyo, please don't hold it against me.**


	2. Chapter 2

Tsukimi was tossing and turning the entire night. She was given a guest's bedroom and it just didn't seem right to her. She was anxious. She squirmed underneath the expensive silken sheets, finally becoming still. The bedroom door open and she heard her name being called, but it was obvious at this hour she would be sleeping. Right?

Kuranosuke approached just to check to see if she wasn't overwhelmed by any means. He saw her eyes were closed, and her chest rising and falling. Definitely asleep. He bent down to caress her cheek as he had done earlier that day. He was so tempted, having not seen her in months. It seemed like years. While he did get pissed to see her in a trashy state, his heart still fluttered about in his chest like he was a teenager again. It wasn't long ago that he was one, considering he was over the age of twenty now. Tsukimi he knew was still eighteen, but he wasn't sure of that either now that he thought about it… He let out a sigh as he found himself nearing Tsukimi's soft looking lips, then froze and stiffened. _What the hell am I doing!? _He kicked himself mentally as he got up and hurried out of the bedroom. Sleep would not be something that was going to come easy… He went to his bedroom, grumbling and warm in the face. After crawling into bed, she let out a long exhale. This was hopeless…

In the morning, Kuranosuke was on the move. With everything packed from last night, things were being transferred into the car for the trip. Clara had already departed with her necessities and they would be there by the time Clara arrived at the department building. Boxes of clothing, paint, more clothing and other necessities were hauled out. By the time Tsukimi was up, he snatched her to the bathroom and ended up brushing out her messy hair. She threw a fit when he started to undress her, pushing him out. He only caught the slightest bit of her chest, but he cleared his throat. He had given her a skirt with some leggings and a grey, sleeve-less turtleneck shirt. He gave her a pair of low-heeled shoes to wear with the outfit and when she came out with her hair in pig-tails again, he started to jump at her. "Tsukimi!" he scolded, reaching out to pull the hair-ties from her hair and let the soft tresses fall around her face. He reached for a brush and started brushing it out, grabbing a hair-clip and pulling the hair that framed her face around back and clipping it there. Kuranosuke ended up doing a couple touch-ups but left her face without makeup. It was a long drive so she didn't have to be dolled up for no reason. Truth be told, he might have done this before they left just to stare at something pretty. Not that she wasn't pretty. Tsukimi always hid behind her hair, so pulling it away from her face made it much easier to stare at.

"Alright, we leave in ten. We'll grab something to eat out in the car." Kuranosuke said, eyeing her while she turned around and headed back to the guest's bedroom.

He remained there until she returned with her glasses upon her face and a couple sketchbooks. She went straight downstairs, sleepy and cute in Kuranosuke's eyes. He followed behind her and outside to the car. For once, Kuranosuke hadn't dressed himself up all cutely. There was a lot of painting and work to be done before they opened their store. In the car, there were a couple bags of various breakfast foods. Tsukimi showed no hesitation in searching through them and grabbing some Tamagoyaki and some Sobameshi. Her stomach grumbled as she got them settled on a pull out table, pausing briefly as nervousness settled inside of her. Kuranosuke only watched her, waiting for her to relax before reaching for the bags and searching them. He found a container of miso soup and settled with that and some rice. As the driver set forth for their destination, Tsukimi and Kuranosuke remained quiet as they filled their stomachs with enough food to satisfy their hunger.

After their meal, there was an hour of silence. Kuranosuke sat across from Tsukimi who was sleepy from the meal. She had her head leaning against the window and was napping peacefully. Kuranosuke murred as he tilted his head and glimpsed over her, starting at the legs. His heart throbbed as he narrowed his eyes at her face. God, he needed help…

It was another hour before Tsukimi started to stir awake. She started rubbing at her brown eyes and looking to the spot where Kuranosuke was located before she fell asleep. She turned her head and immediately stiffened and reddened at finding him beside of her, so very close to her face. He reached over to cup her face and pull her in, but considering how stiff and tense she was, she refused this.

Kuranosuke narrowed his eyes and his eyebrows scrunched together in frustration. "Tsukimi," he muttered, staring into her eyes and finally sighing.

He pulled away and returned to the spot across from her, leaving her be. The driver notified them that they would be arriving in an hour and thirty minutes. With another sigh, Kuranosuke glimpsed over to some of the boxes packed in with them. Inside one of them were sketchbooks. He took one and flipped them open, his face lighting up at what he found. Inside, on many pages, were sketches of dresses in the shape of various jellies. There was a couple of different types of flower hat jellies. On another page were dresses that suited the Blue Angels jelly. Another page resembled a purple striped jelly. Another held a picture with reference to a cannonball jelly. He looked up to Tsukimi who had a smile playing at her lips. "Are they bad?"

"Oh, Tsukimi. Not at all! These are beautiful!" he exclaimed, glancing through other pages with many jellies with various styles. At least she was bringing out the designer side in her.

When he flipped through a couple more pages, he saw what looked like the outline of the inside of a building. There was a pretty blue for the color of the walls with bubbles here and there. There looked to be little jellyfish dolls hanging from the ceiling along with what looked like… seashells? He rose an eyebrow slightly. "Was this—?"

"I did it last night with some paint." She said, holding up her hands.

Here, he finally noticed the color upon her fingers. Glancing back down to the papers, he gave a sigh. "Tsukimi, these are great. I was having trouble considering what it would look like. I do have some paint, but we will have to go out later to get more fabrics to make these dolls."

Tsukimi smiled, reaching for the sketchbook and flipping through a couple pages more. When she came to one piece of paper, she held it up. It was a very pretty dress design and he wasn't certain on what jelly she got this one from. Tsukimi knew it was a White Spotted jellyfish. So elegant and beautiful. "This was as close as I could get to my… well… my thoughts on what my mother would make for me," she said, glancing up to him and back down shyly before folding the sketchbook closed.

Kuranosuke remained quiet as she turned to look back out the window some more. Then she silence for the remainder of the trip started. It was hell for him, but by the time he was nodding off, the car came to a stop and the driver notified them they had arrived. Tsukimi was the first to get out, Kuranosuke being drowsy and getting out last. The building Kuranosuke bought was at least three stories tall… Tsukimi's eyes glittered in the process. The driver started to politely unpack, leaving Tsukimi to blink in confusion. "Wait, are we staying here?"

Kuranosuke glanced back at her as he started picking up suitcases and boxes. "The two floors are for our business. The very top floor is a suite fit for a home," he said with a smirk, something that made Tsukimi uneasy.

Hours were spent pulling boxes into the building and dragging this and that that belonged to the home instead of the business up to the third floor. Clara, much to Tsukimi's surprise, was sitting on a counter on the top floor, floating about in such a happy manner. Giving a smile in Clara's direction, she turned to inspect the suite. Two bathrooms, a nice living room and kitchen area. And… Tsukimi's mouth fell. There was only one bedroom and it was huge. Maybe there could be two beds put in here instead of just one. As Tsukimi looked up to two men hauling in a bed-frame, she watched as Kuranosuke appeared and directed where they were to put the frame. Tsukimi stiffened, turning to look in Kuranosuke's direction. "Wha… There's just one bed?"

Kuranosuke blinked his purple hues in her direction. "Is there a problem with that?"

Tsukimi was obviously starting to tremble. "O-of course there is!" she exclaimed, looking up to the men who brought in the king sized mattress and sat it down on the frame after managing to get the box-spring first. Considering how big the bed was, Tsukimi's small frame would not take up much. If she was to sleep in the same bed as him, she would make sure to avoid contact. Turning, she ran smack into Kuranosuke, freezing instantaneously. Kuranosuke blinked a couple more times, patting her on the head and leaning down to her ear. "I have something for you later..." he murmured, a smirk playing at his lips.

* * *

** **I thank anyone who has read this fan-fic! I do truly love these two and wish they had gotten a bit further in the anime/manga. c: Enjoy! ****


End file.
